The main purpose of the literature review is to set out the topic under study within its wider context and to show the reader how the issue or problem under investigation has been studied to date and what has been learned from it. Such a review will help the reader to contextualize the study, identify appropriate evidence, and might also point to how an understanding of the topic under investigation will be enhanced by this study.

There are different ways in which the student might tackle the literature view. This can be structured by research questions, whereby the very questions will signpost the logical sequence of the main body of the document. Alternatively, the student might like to structure it by common themes found in the literature search. Either way, the most important aspect is that the literature is built on a critical and logical line of argumentation and that this is neatly developed in complete alignment so as to answer the research questions the report is addressing, Students should be mindful of critically discussing the literature in terms of concepts or ideas rather than just displaying a sequence of descriptions of different studies.